1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to page connection systems used in binders and folders. More particularly, the present invention relates to a foldable ring system of a hybrid binder-folder which permits easy page removal and insertion, arcing page movement, and thin folding of the binder-folder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional ring binders utilize two, three or more rings connected with the spine of the ring binder for holding pages, usually in the form of sheets paper. The side members of the ring binder are foldably connected with the spine, and the rings are structured to selectively open and close in order to permit page insertion and removal with respect thereto. In operation, a user would open the ring binder with the side members of the ring binder on a resting surface and the rings facing up toward the user. The rings are then opened, pages having holes punched therein are then added or subtracted from the rings and the rings are then closed. Thereafter, the pages are arcably moved on the rings in order for the user to locate a selected page. When it is time to close the ring binder, the side members are folded so that the distal ends of the side members remote from the spine come into, or nearly into, adjacency. The resulting shape is far from being flat, in that the spine must be of at least a minimal width sufficient to accommodate the diameter of the rings. Consequently, the shape of a closed ring binder is generally triangular. Thus, a ring binder is of considerable thickness when closed even if no pages are held on the rings. As a result, it would be advantageous to provide a page holder which does not suffer from having an unavoidably wide spine.
An alternative to ring binders are folders. Folders have two or more page engagement members in the form of a pair of metallic flaps which insert through a hole in the page and then are folded over flat with respect to the fold centerline of the folder. In this regard, the side members of the folder fold along the centerline and the resulting shape is substantially flat. Another advantage of folders is that the side members can be folded back on themselves, thereby making it easier to handle the folder and resulting in a minimized footprint on a desk top. While folders eliminate the spine problem of ring binders, they suffer from the pages not being as readily manipulated in the manner possible only with rings.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a system for holding pages having the advantages of both a ring binder and a folder without the disadvantages of either.